If you click on the "Radio Birdman":http://mog.com/music/Radio_Birdman Mog artist page, you will note that I have written about them several times, and why not they are one of my all time fave bands... and I just got back from seeing them for the second time. Now any time you see a band once and have a good time, they put on a great show, and you leave all keyed up and ready for more... there is no telling how they are going to be the next time you see them.... and tonight Radio Birdman not only were as good as when I saw them last fall, they were down a man and still carried it off. Their keyboard player had to bow out of the tour at the last moment, for a family emergency and so the band was flying in what Dez Tek called 'The Missing Man Formation' tonight. The absence of the keys gave them a more stripped down and garage punk sound. They blazed through a set of their classics, a few tunes of their album from last year Zeno Beach and some covers.... I have to say that I was disappointed in the sound at the start, but that was more an issue of where the speakers are placed in the "Triple Rock":http://www.triplerocksocialclub.com/.
Let me talk about the covers for just a second... first off, when I saw them last time they only played one cover that I recall, Search and Destroy by The Stooges, this time around I counted at least 2 (well only two that really stand out in my mind) the first was the BOC classic Hot Rails to Hell, which I only caught on to late into the tune, due to the sound issues that I mentioned earlier. The Second and most unexpected was Circles by Les Fleur De Lys (from the Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969 box set... and I was half expecting that they were going to play the Wars or Hands of Time by Masters Apprentices[ which is also on that box set] ... or maybe break into The Circle by The Bootjacks which you can find on the Searchin' For Shakes comp)... anyway, their cover was dead on, and a perfect addition to their set.
Now maybe I should pause here and say a little about the Birdman sound, take some Stooges, some MC5, throw in some early BOC, 60's garage rock, the Ventures and the energy of 77 punk and you have Radio Birdman..... that's a lot of influence and when the band formed way back when, I don't know that they were in many ways creating something that I don't think was around before them... namely High Energy Rock and Roll... sure there was all the bands and styles that influenced them, but I don't really know of anyone that took all of those stands, the surf rock, the garage rock, proto punk, power pop and punk, mixed them, and used the one thing that all of those styles have in common.... that energy and drive... and set down the blue print for what underground rock and roll has drawn on for year... It was a great show, and I will have to write something about the opening bands later on... but I did want to mention something... I might have been one of the younger people at the show, which is strange cause I'm not that young... it seems like there were a lot of adults at the show, people that had been waiting years and years to see Birdman play, lots of old school punks and rockers from back in the day... and you know what, I have seen a lot of shows at the Triple Rock, but I don't know that I have seen one that had as much raw rock power as this one, the energy was just pulsing, and even the chanting for an encore, did I mention that they even added a song to their set because of the audience?, was more genuine and honest than I have seen in a long time. I tell you these kids today, they don't know what they are missing...lastly I want to say hellp to the first mogger (who I am not related to) that I have met in person..."Lady Miss Ian":http://mog.com/Lady_Miss_Ian was at the show with her friends and we got to chat for a little while before the show.... here's the proof...
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